Wonderland
by DramaDramaDrama
Summary: Eighteen-year-old Zoey Allen's life is fake, but flawless; or at least as much so as it will ever be. Zoey has accepted the path her life has taken, but just then does a new threat by the name of the Volturi force her to change her life again — only that this time, the changes will live forever. (Volturi member/OC) Dark. Please give it a read.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does. No copyright infringement is intended, and I am making no financial gain from this.

* * *

_Wonderland_

Prologue

It was a stormy night in late winter, and the snow danced around the windows of the vintage BMW in unique, never repeating patterns, covering the ground under its pale white veil. A brunette girl, awe in her doe-like eyes, intriguedly watched. It was the first snow of the year.

"This is beautiful," she whispered.

The boy to her side gave his neighbour an amused look, snorting. "Not if you're driving, it isn't."

The brunette sighed. "You shouldn't have agreed to drive me, then," she said. "I could have walked, and besides, it's not like the world would end if I didn't show up."

"Theoretically, I'd have to agree with you," the boy commented, "But you_ never_ go out. And you should. You know, be social for an hour or two..."

"Hey!"

"Sorry."

They drove on in silence, and the girl went back to amazedly staring out of her window. The boy, she knew, hated the winter. He despised the cold, the snow, the omnipresent white that seemed to mock him. But she loved it. She enjoyed witnessing the snow fall, seeing it cover up the littered sidewalks and once-green grass, adding its own unique touch of perfection to her hometown. Also, it presented a more than welcome change from the eternal boredom of her day-to-day life. And for that she was more than thankful.

As the dark blue vehicle made a turn to the right, now making its way down a very poorly lit street, the girl witnessed something else.

It was a monotonous sound, almost inaudible in the moment of its first inception, but increasingly growing louder as the car continued driving down the street. It unnerved the girl; she could not quite place the unknown noise — she had never heard quite the likes of it before — and it annoyed her to no end. Only several seconds of time and intense concentration allowed her to finally discover the origin of it, and as she did, she immediately spoke up.

"Stop the car," she ordered. The boy, the smallest of smiles on his thin lips, sighed but complied.

The brunette closed her eyes, concentrating on the noise. "Do you hear that?"

The boy looked back at her in confusion. "Hear what?"

"The screams."

Within the blink of an eye the BMW's doors flew open, the girl emerging from the vehicle in a haste so immense that its possibility had previously been unknown to her. Her companion chased after her, leaving the car behind him, unlocked and with opened doors.

"Wait!" he yelled. "For God's sake, this is dangerous!"

But the girl was determined. "We have to help."

Before he could possibly convince her otherwise, the girl had reached the dark and mysterious back alley, standing at the border of the shadows and taking a deep and pained breath at the terrible and cruel sight before her. Within the blink of an eye the boy had her back, taking her in his arms to save her from any kind of danger. And looking forward, wondering what could have her reacting like this.

There was no movement whatsoever in the alley, he noticed with dread; it was completely isolated. The screams too had died down. But then he directed his eyes further downwards, and saw why.

There she was, the little girl that the screams had originated from — lying in the bright white snow inanimately, the snow near her head having turned into a ghastly crimson that he instantly knew only blood could cause. Her skin had turned sickly pale in death, and her shoes lay several meters away from her corpse; signs of a fight. Her longe blonde curls were crimson at the edges and messy, and her eyes wide open and filled with fright.

She couldn't have been older than eight, he thought in terror. And now she wouldn't live to see the sunset.

"No," a whisper directed his attention back to the trembling brunette in his arms. "No, no, no. She..._oh god_."

The girl adamantly refused to believe what she was seeing.

"God won't help you now."

The girl looked up and froze. There, only few meters infront of her, stood a creature almost as pale as the snow surrounding it, its dark clothes, shining maroon eyes and blood smears near its mouth creating a stark contrast, slowly emerging from the shadows. Cold shivers ran down her back at the sight.

"Wh-who...?"

She never received her answer — instead, the creature sprinted towards her in inhumane speed, its eyes turning from maroon to pitch black. The girl closed her eyes, too cowardly to actually look what she knew to be her death in the eyes and cowering.

Only that death did not come.

She opened her eyes, and just as she did, heard the high-pitched, agonized scream of her driver, who now stood mere centimeters before her, the unknown man biting down into his neck.

Gasping, she realized that he must have sacrificed himself to save her.

"R..r-run...!" the boy managed to croak out in between the screams of intense agony. "G-go...n-now...!"

But she didn't. And with that one decision, she unknowingly changed her entire future.

* * *

A/N: Hello there! I got inspired listening to Taylor Swift's 'Wonderland' yesterday (hence the title), and here it is now, the first of many updates to come. This will be both a tragic and dramatic romance story, the story line will be slightly complex, the chapters will be long and updates frequent (about once a week). Also, our heroine will fall for a member of the Volturi, but all of that in due time.

For now, please leave me a review with your opinion and, if you liked this, remember to follow or favorite this story. Thank you in advance, and until soon! x


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Wonderland_ was a both eerily dark and absurdly fascinating place, Zoey Allen thought to herself as she watched more and more visitors trickle in, seeing the first of many to come rush into the establishment in a never ending race for the best seats — the ones which possessed the best views onto the colorless, gray-in-gray street that stretched on endlessly outside of the small, square windows as if their existences depended on it. The young waitress shook her head in disbelief. She would never understand the appeal of her workplace, but she was grateful for its mysterious appeal either way.

It was early morning. The sun had just gone up several minutes ago, coloring the sky in an especially beautiful shade of light red, and the emerald-eyed woman with the angelic face and quiet attitude let out a melancholic sigh, letting the last year or so pass before her mental eye. She was lucky to have gotten the job, she told herself, just like she had done every day since she had started working at the legendary _Wonderland Café and Bar_. Things could have turned out much worse for her.

But today, she had trouble believing that.

"Zoey!"

Immediately she slipped out of her trance, reopening her eyes and seeing her minimally older co-worker wildly gesture for her to help her. She complied without second thought, sprinting towards the mahogany-haired woman with the everlasting look of annoyance plastered onto her face and aided her in cleaning a dirty table for new customers.

"What had you so occupied there?"

Zoey shrugged. "Nothing," she lied, yawning. "I just tried to remember if I'd shut the kitchen window before I left." Reluctantly, she added, "Sorry."

"Well," Zoey's co-worker demanded, "did you? 'Cause it's supposed to rain today, or so I've heard."

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"Sure?"

"Yes, Lila. As sure as it gets."

The woman named Lila rolled her eyes. "Just making sure, you know. The last thing I need is to come home from work to see my kitchen flooded."

And the waitresses were back to silence.

It's curious, Zoey thought. Lila and her were co-workers, they lived in a shared apartment above the restaurant, they had spent almost every day of the previous year together — and still, they did not manage to get past the small-talk.

"Lila," one of the regulars called out from the back of the café. The woman in question shyly smiled.

"Well, I gotta go," she excused herself while walking off. "Sorry!"

Zoey cleaned the remainder of the table in silence.

As she returned the sponge and drying cloth to the back of the restaurant, she buried her face behind her hands, her back slowly sliding back the wall until she was sitting on the dusty 50's style tiles, her skinny knees pushed into her ribs.

She could not do this much longer, she realized. She was forced to endure, she knew as much, but sooner or later, she would break.

After a year of this artificial, merry façade, Zoey felt like crying. But she could not even do that. Because, what if Lila would hear? What if she started to ask questions? What then?

* * *

Several hours later, as Zoey and her colleague walked up the stairs to their apartment in silence, Zoey realized that Lila and herself were as different as it could get. Where Zoey kept her thoughts to herself, Lila made a point of speaking her mind without the merest of boundaries; where Zoey did a good job of hiding her disappointment at her way of life, Lila constantly seemed, aesthetically at least, as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her broad shoulders. The two women had next to nothing in common.

And so it was not surprising at all that once they had checked to see if or if not the kitchen had been flooded during the day, they quietly retreated into their separate rooms, not to hear from each other again until the next morning.

Zoey let herself fall onto her bed with a groan, regarding her room. It was small, scarcely furnished and as un-personal as it could possibly get. She had deliberately kept it that way. There were no photos, no books, no flowers, no decorations whatsoever. Nothing to remind anyone who entered it of who inhabited it. To the right of the door, there were a small bed and a nightstand with a lamp, and on the other side of it stood a desk with a non-descript chair and a wardrobe.

And that was it. This was what her life consisted of now — cleaning tables, serving customers, spending the evenings in her little prison cell of a room.

Had someone told her a year ago that this was how she was going to spend her adult life, she would have surely laughed him out.

Zoey sighed and took her cellphone out of her jeans pocket. She pressed the 'on' button, the display lighting up only seconds later, and she sat up as she saw the time. Zoey quickly changed from her _Wonderland_ work uniform into a hoodie, a fresh pair of jeans and a pair of trainers, combed her long brunette hair and left the apartment. She did not say goodbye to Lila. What would she have cared, anyway.

The brunette sped down the staircase and ran onto the street, finding her second hand Renault between the cars parked infront of the door. She was late, and therefore made a point of hastily turning on the engine and racing down the street to save time.

This was the last, perhaps most unusual part of her daily routine.

* * *

When Zoey finally arrived at the national park an hour later, she took her usual route under the hole in the fence which the guards had not yet noticed and ran to the gigantic forest, whose first line of trees began a mere hundred meters from her own, personal entrance.

She gulped as she took the first step into the darkness of the forest, a feeling of unease filling her.

Hopefully, _he_ had fed.

"Noah?" she called out cautiously. "Are you there?"

"Yup," a deep, harmonic voice answered from above her. Zoey turned, a smile brightening up her face as she took in the sight of the dark-haired, pale creature with the crimson irises sitting in the branches of a tree which was located several meters infront of her.

"How's it going?" she asked.

Noah shrugged. "Good, I suppose. I had a couple of teens for dinner today. Stupid kids keep sneaking into the park."

Zoey nodded politely, having learned within the last year not to bother leading discussions on feeding habits with a vampire — it could only possibly end in one's disadvantage.

"How's life in _Wonderland_?"

"Okay," she replied simply. She was in no mood to share her problems today.

"If you say so. Hey, I have a question for you, by the way."

"Oh yeah?"

"I've more or less imprisoned myself in this forest for a year now because you suggested that I should. I won't rip anyone's throats out, I promise. At least not in public. Can we please go out together more often than once in two weeks? I yearn for entertainment."

"Erm..." Zoey thought about it for a moment. "If you say so, I suppose..."

"Awesome," Noah smirked. "Thanks."

A moment of awkward silence later, Zoey spoke up.

"It's the anniversary today, you know?"

The vampire looked down at her in interest. "Anniversary of what, if I may ask?"

"Of... of you being like _this_."

"Oh," the dark-haired creature said. "I'd completely forgotten."

Another moment of silence.

"I wonder how _they_ are," the girl thought out loud. "They must feel so betrayed, thinking that we ran away from them..."

"Well, to be fair," Noah added, "We didn't run away _because_ of them."

"You're right," Zoey nodded. "But that doesn't make it any better."

She sighed. "Don't you miss it? You're life before this?"

"I guess," he said. "I don't really mind. It's not that bad, really, being a vamp. Kinda has its perks." Noah looked down at Zoey. "But you do. I can see it in your eyes. You miss it really, really badly."

The brunette sighed once more. "I've had better days," she replied. _Better years, more like it_. "Not that it matters much."

"It should, though," Noah commented. "Aren't you happy here?"

"I guess I am," she said.

"Why do you miss it, then?"

Because nothing she did held any meaning any more. Because when she woke up in the mornings, she woke up in the life of a stranger. Because she seemed to do nothing for herself anymore, and all for him.

Because life had turned into just another item to check off on her to-do list.

"I don't know," she whispered. "No reason."

* * *

As Zoey lay in bed that night, the usual silence disturbed by the sound of a sitcom her roommate was watching on the other side of her wall, she could not sleep. She tossed and turned, pressing her eyes closed with all the force she could muster, but in vain.

The brunette opened her eyes. The trees outside of her window threw bony, skeleton-like shadows on her floor, lighting up the room with their nightmare inducing presence. Zoey sighed, sitting up. A memory kept playing in her mind.

_The snow fell relentlessly, forcing her to keep her eyes to the ground. She ran through the newly fallen snow, leaving her footsteps, running for her life. People where starting to call after her, yelling at her to stop and come back. A single tear left her eyes. _

_The night may have been white, but it most certainly was not silent._

_The boy in her arms was screaming in agony, kicking and rolling around in her arms. Blood fell from a wound on his neck, leaving small crimson droplets in the snow. She tried to soothe him, to coaxe him into silence, but to no avail — his pained screams only increased in volume._

_"I'm coming after you!" a male voice called after her. "You better stop right where you are, Miss!"  
_

_She took a deep breath and ran even faster, her legs aching so much that she half thought they would give out. Within seconds she had reached the car, throwing the agonized boy onto the backseat and hastily starting the car.  
_

_Moments later, she had disappeared into the night._

Zoey sighed, closing her eyes. "Happy anniversary of falling down the rabbit hole."

* * *

Author's Note: Did you like it? I originally wanted to make it about three thousand words, but then realized I'd probably bore you to death with more details of the café and Zoey's apartment. I hope this was okay to read — please leave me some feedback :)

I know this is probably not what you expected after the prologue... I promise the next chapter will be much more interesting, though, as the Volturi will make their entrance. So, until then!


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day passed exactly as its predecessor had, without even the smallest of differences.

Zoey had stood up early in the morning, staring blankly at a wall for several minutes before gathering the power to leave bed, had quietly eaten a scarce breakfast with her roommate and without speaking another word, rushed down to _Wonderland_ in her work uniform.

Just like yesterday, she put on a mask of happiness to distract the world from the vast emptiness hidden behind her eyes. Just like yesterday, nobody saw through it.

By the time lunch time rolled around, Zoey was dead tired. She was used to the tiresome work that consisted not only of attending to customers, but making customers want to be attended by her by now — somehow though, her daily visit at the national park yesterday had drained the eighteen-year-old a little more than usually. Zoey sighed, impatiently watching the vintage wall clock. Only one more minute, and she would have gained freedom for half an hour.

Only one more minute, and she would be allowed to hide away somewhere and let her mask drop.

"Ms Allen?"

She turned around. A customer she had never seen before, greasy black hair framing his uneven, juvenile features, stared her down expectantly, a triumphant smirk on his thin lips as she politely made her way towards him.

"Welcome to _Wonderland_," she said apathetically. "Today's special is chicken casserole. What would you like to drink?"

The customer did not answer, instead taking in his waitress's features in sudden wonder. Several awkward seconds passed before Zoey politely coughed.

"Is anything the matter, sir?"

"Ms Allen," he repeated, obviously reading the name off Zoey's name tag. "Excuse me, but don't I know you...?"

Zoey's heart threatened to explode in her chest.

She froze. No, she told herself, this could not be, not now, not after all this time of hiding...

"I'm sorry, sir," she gulped nervously. "You must have me mixed up with someone."

Another devilishly long moment of silence passed, the customer continuing to intriguedly stare at Zoey and Zoey continuing to seem as confident as possible, before the customer laughed out loud, patting Zoey on the shoulder.

"Just playing with ya, sweetie," he said. "Why so tense?"

"I-I.." she stammered, "You know what, I'm sorry, but I'm on my lunch break. My colleague will be with you shortly."

And she sprinted away in utter desperation and embarrassment before the customer could object.

Zoey reached the back of the restaurant in record time, noticing Lila sitting in a corner, smoking a cigarette and boredly playing on her cellphone.

"Lila," she exclaimed. "There's a customer who needs to be waited on, and I'm on my lunch break."

Lila merely shrugged. The short girl slowly stood up, stepped onto her cigarette, killing the flames, and walked away into the direction of the restaurant. "Sure," she said. "See you later."

Zoey wordlessly nodded, looking after her friend as she walked out of the safety of the private back of the restaurant. When Zoey was sure that Lila was out of hearing and seeing range, she closed her eyes, letting the tears run freely.

For a few minutes, she was herself.

* * *

Zoey finally ventured out of her hiding spot a little less than ten minutes later, her eyes slightly puffy, her carefully applied mascara minimally messed up. If anybody had dared to look closely at the supposedly happy, shy waitress, they would have surely noticed it. Within seconds they would have understood that she was anything close to happy.

But for that, they would have had to look.

She hastily left _Wonderland_, walking into the town center to look for a bite to eat.

* * *

A few minutes earlier and several hundred kilometers away, a group of five pale, golden-eyed creatures bid its blackly cloaked visitors farewell.

"Well," a golden-eyed woman with strawberry blond curls spoke up, "I hope that your stay in Alaska was to your liking. Please, greet your Masters from us."

"Of course," a little girl, her angelic face half-hidden by her cloak, apathetically answered. "We are satisfied to see that in our absence, you have not broken any laws. Please continue not to do so. The Volturi do not give second chances."

"We'll keep it in mind," the strawberry blonde smiled.

"Farewell, then."

Within the blink of a human eye, the black cloaks were gone.

They sped through the vast landscapes of rural Alaska as a unit, not once stopping. After their once-a-century compulsory visit to the Denali coven, the elite Volturi guard had one destination and one goal only — Volterra.

They were swift, graceful in their movements, even now, as they were not trying to impress. Millennia of practice had made it impossible for the Volturi to be anything but perfect in their movements; both to install fear in their enemies and attract their prey. Any human witnessing their sprint by accident would surely have mistaken the pale figures in their pure black cloaks for a long, translucent piece of luxurious black silk, quickly yet with somehow disturbing beauty dancing in the wind.

Several minutes later, the eyes of a boy, his face holding a strange similarity to the apathetic girl, blackened in thirst, and he impulsively stopped running.

"Alec," the girl hissed. "What are you doing? We must continue traveling. Aro is expecting our return."

The boy named Alec rolled his eyes. "Do you see that city in the distance?" he asked. "It's big enough that a few missing humans would not cause suspicion. I think we should hunt."

The other two males nodded in agreement. They too longed for nutrition.

There was silence for a moment, then the girl said "Fine," giving in. "But let us be quick and clean. We have no time to waste."

The four vampires gave each other one last look of agreement, then sped away into another direction, towards the town. Within seconds they passed a sign that welcomed them in Whitehorse, and only moments after, they were in the city.

It was noon. Many humans were out, just like them looking for something that would satisfy their hunger. Were the guards careless, they would have grabbed the first group of four they would have found and drained them dry. But they were not careless. This was not their city, and they would have to be careful not to draw attention to them or their actions. And so they patiently waited, hiding in an alley.

"Unaccompanied humans," the girl ordered. "Ones that seem unimportant. Don't let them scream."

Alec found his prey first. The man was old, in his sixties, and smelled of alcohol. The vampire numbed him before draining him, making it impossible for his victim to make a sound. His fellow guard members followed his example soon after. Within the course of few minutes, three corpses, two young girls and one middle-aged woman, kept the old man company in the back of the alley and the guards' eyes were back to bright crimson.

"What now?" a tall vampire asked. "We can't simply leave them here."

"I smell water nearby," the girl observed. "There must be a lake within the city walls, Felix. I suggest we drop the bodies off there and then continue our journey."

"Sounds good, Jane."

Utilizing their full speed to assure that nobody would see them, the small congregation followed Jane as she led the way to a lake. Fortunately there were no humans nearby, and so they made a point of finding the deepest part and throwing their victims into the lake there.

They were just about to turn around and leave the town once and for all when Jane said, "We are not the only immortals here."

The guards froze. Officially, Canada was one of the few vampire-free countries that still existed in the world. This could not be good.

"Aro _will_ be interested to know," she added.

"We should follow this vampire's scent," Alec replied. "Maybe he is just passing through, like us."

Jane laughed and pointed at a newspaper stand nearby. The headline read _Three Missing — Number of Unlocated Missing Persons Rises To Twenty_.

"Maybe not," Felix noted.

"I still think that we should follow this vampire," Alec said, adding: "The Masters will appreciate this knowledge when making a decision of what is to be done."

"I agree," the fourth guard spoke up. He was almost as tall as Felix, and his hair was messy.

Jane sighed. "We will stay to make sure that the vampire is not causing any turmoil. But we leave for Volterra by the evening."

"Agreed," Alec smiled.

They quickly tracked the vampire down, following his scent until they eventually found him sitting on a bench in the city center. It was a cloudy day, and the newborn could be in the open without fearing to be exposed by the sun. He seemed relaxed, at ease almost. He was tall, slender, had short brown hair and the shockingly bright crimson eyes of a newborn.

To avoid being detected, they sat down in a dark café with a good view of the city center, still being able to see and hear the newborn due to their advanced senses.

"Jane," the messy haired guard said. "He can't be older than a year. We have to get him out of here, make sure he doesn't go on a rampage."

Just then, a shy-seeming human walked by, half-covering her face behind her long, brunette hair. The vampire smiled, looked around himself to see several other humans, and called out "Zoey!"

"Demetri," Jane replied, "I think we should see why he knows the name of this mortal first."

The shy human turned, noticing the vampire stare expectantly at her, and, her eyes widening in both surprise and dread, smiled. "Noah!" she cried out. The human hastily ran over to the newborn, then whispered, "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"She knows him?" Jane asked, perplexed.

"You said I could go out into town more often," the newborn named Noah replied smugly. "And here I am, doing exactly that."

The girl named Zoey sighed, then demanded: "Have you fed this morning?"

"Oh for f*ck's sake," Felix cried out. "She knows?!"

"_Silence_," Jane hissed. "He'll hear us."

Noah glared at the girl, then shook his head. "Why would I if I just had those three teens yesterday?"

The human was obviously irritated by now. "Maybe because you were planning on_ sitting in a place full of people_?"

The newborn smirked. "And here I was, thinking you held even an ounce of trust in me."

"I... I do trust you." Instantly, Zoey turned from offensive to defensive.

"You better," the newborn said.

"Look, Noah," the girl sighed, "I'm sorry, but I came out here to get a bite to eat. I'm going to have to go now."

But Noah held her back.

"Look, _Zoey_," he replied, mocking the human. His eyes turned pitch black. "I want to get _a bite_, too. There were other people sneaking into the park just as I left. I could have had them. You know why I didn't? Because I thought, why don't I surprise the one person that remotely cares about me in her lunch break today? The least you could do to appreciate my sacrifice is be hungry with me. _Sit back down_."

Fear evident in her eyes, Zoey sat back down.

"She's either completely brave or a completely coward," Alec remarked. "I can't seem to figure out which one."

"I'll need to get back to _Wonderland_ in a few minutes," the girl said. "My lunch break is finite."

Noah shrugged. "Then stay with me just a little longer."

"Promise me you'll go straight back to the park when I'm gone." There was desperation in Zoey's voice.

"Just trust me!"

"Noah..."

"Okay, okay." He gave in. "You win."

"This weirdly reminds of Isabella and Edward Cullen's relationship," Demetri commented.

"There was a man in the restaurant today," Zoey said, trying to make conversation. "He thought he recognized me from somewhere. I almost had a heart attack. He said that he was only joking, though."

"What?!" Noah cried out. "Zoey, you really need to be a little more attentive. What if... what if he'd actually known you?"

"He didn't," she sighed. "Besides, I'm already paranoid enough."

"I don't care if you had to be a hundred times more paranoid, if only that meant you'd be able to assure that such things wouldn't happen."

Zoey merely shook her head in disbelief in response.

"I don't get it," she finally replied.

"What is there not to get?"

"Why do you care so much?"

Noah cast his gaze downwards.

"Because," he answered, "After I became this, you promised me something. You promised me you'd never leave me. That you'd always be there for me. And I _need_ you. I need you to be there for me. You wouldn't understand why, but for me, everything depends on it." He sighed. "Please just trust me. I need you to be careful, so that you can always be there for me. Promise me?"

"I promise."

"I've seen enough," Jane snarled. "Poor girl. Let us leave, the Masters will want to decide what to do with them."

Instantaneously, they were on their way.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you liked it! Please leave me a review. Sadly, eventhough this story has gotten way over a hundred views so far, I've only gotten three reviews up until now, which, again, is a bit sad. So please, if you are reading this and liked it, it won't take long but it'll make my day. Three reviews for the next chapter!

Also, it's deliberate that you don't know much about Noah and Zoey. I want to make it kind of a mystery, but it will be revealed by Chapter Eight. And I'll leave the occasional clue on the way :)


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Finally," Lila exclaimed as Zoey re-entered their shared workplace fifteen minutes later. "I thought I'd never see you again! I'm starving."

She hastily grabbed her coat and bag, opening the door. "See you in thirty. Table five wants extra peas."

Before Zoey had a chance to reply, the door closed behind her friend of sorts with a loud thud as Lila made her way into the city center and left _Wonderland_ behind her.

"Bye," she said.

Turning around, Zoey saw that the restaurant was buzzing with life. Every last chair was occupied, and the sound of loud chatter filled the room, drowning out the quiet country music in the background she had grown to love over the last year. The quiet girl sighed, taking off her coat and getting to work.

Being a waitress may not have been the best job available, and of course, it had its downsides, but if anything else, it gave her space. It never required meticulous thinking, just doing. Taking orders, faking a smile, bringing people their food, repeat. Who cared what went on in her head as long as she did what she was paid to do. Most days, this bugged Zoey endlessly. But today, she couldn't possibly be more grateful for it.

Because today, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the strange encounter with Noah out of her head. His words, all of them, repeated in her mind endlessly, mercilessly.

She had lived with him like this for a year now, always aware of his true nature, but never before had she been afraid of him like she was now, she realized. Not when she had seen their faces on the _WANTED_ posters; not when he had come back from his first hunt, covered in blood; not when one day, on her way to meet Noah in the national park, she had tripped over two bloodless bodies, eyes open in terror.

It didn't necessarily even make sense — Noah hadn't even said anything specific that would cause Zoey to be frightened. It had been more of... the _way_ he'd said it, an unwanted promise hidden behind the malicious glint in his eyes, the anger in his words, the determination evident in the way he held himself that sent shivers down her back.

Or maybe it was because the day she couldn't keep him locked up in his metaphorical cage anymore, ensuring the safety of herself and many others, had finally come.

Either way, she couldn't remember ever having been this anxious.

"Welcome to _Wonderland_," she greeted an elderly couple at table three absentmindedly. "I'll be your waitress for today. You may call me Zoey. What can I get you?"

She hastily scribbled down their order and made her way into the kitchen. The cook took the small paper with a serious nod, and Zoey was just about to turn back around —table nine wanted the check— when she risked a glance at the vintage wall clock in the private part of the restaurant.

3:32 PM.

_See you in thirty._

Lila was supposed to be back one and a half hours ago.

"Lila!" Zoey yelled over the sound of chatter, kitchen noises and distant country music. "Lila! Are you here somewhere?"

No response.

Worried, Zoey sprinted towards the Break Room, a windowless two-by-two meter room next to the kitchen. Its walls were painted a dull orange color, it smelled of a mix of lasagne, alcohol and the nearby bathroom, and the only item worth mentioning in it was the socket — but nevertheless, chances were that if one did not find Lila in the public part of _Wonderland_, she was in there, staring apathetically at the screen of her smartphone.

But when Zoey opened the door, she found it empty.

"Shit," she cursed.

She briefly contemplated calling her colleague, pulling her phone out of her dress pocket, but just as she was about to dial Lila's number she noticed Lila's phone, a white Samsung almost entirely covered in stickers or permanent marker, in her peripheral vision, lying on the floor, charging.

Zoey shut off her own phone, an old Nokia, watching the screen slowly turn back to its original black, then closed her eyes, attempting to tune out all her problems for a short, flawless moment.

Needless to say, she did not succeed.

"Allen!" the cook cried from the kitchen. "The tiramisu for six! I don't have all day!"

Sighing, she opened her eyes, making her way towards the kitchen.

There was no point in lying to herself. She'd always hated _Wonderland_.

* * *

With nothing else to do, Zoey continued working. The artificial smile on her lips was flawless; it were her eyes that left much happiness to be desired. None of the customers seemed to mind terribly.

Behind her mask, Zoey's uneasiness was beginning to make her physically ill. Several times she felt like she was going to faint, and her headache was growing worse by the minute. She was a strong person usually, but today, for some reason, was getting the better of her.

She found excuses to go to the private part every few minutes or so, watching time tick away on the vintage clock. At first, it passed slowly. Five minutes went by, then ten, then twenty. Then, inevitably, the minutes turned to hours. First one hour, then a second, then a third. _Tempus currit_. Afternoon turned to evening, light to darkness infront of the dirty gray windows of _Wonderland_.

Still, no signs of Lila.

Horrible, sickening imagines entered Zoey's mind. Lila lying on the pavement of an abandoned back alley, her arms and legs twisted into some terrible pose, her long brunette hair pointing in all directions and soaked in her own blood. It, in a horrifying kind of way, reminded her of the little girl they had found on the street a little over a year ago. Noah knelt next to her, eyes a startlingly bright shade of crimson, his blood soaked lips forming a sadistic, satisfied smile.

Zoey shuddered at the realization that this could have indeed well happened.

"Zoey?" the voice of Mike, the owner of Wonderland, pulled her out of her disturbing thoughts. "Your shift's over, hon. Alix and Leona'll be here any minute. Go home."

She was free. She didn't know wether she should be relieved or terrified.

"Oh. Yeah, sure. I'll just grab my coat..."

"Zoey," Mike's voice stopped her dead in her tracks. There was an unusual seriousness to it. It alarmed her. "Where's Lila? I hardly saw her today."

She shrugged nervously. "She just didn't come back from her lunch break," she whispered. "I don't know."

"I don't believe you," he said. "I'm not stupid, you know. Tell her that if she's not at work tomorrow, she can find herself another job. I have a serious bone to pick with that one."

"Yes Michael," Zoey nodded overzealously. Michael gave her one last suspicious look, then retreated back into the private section. She quickly retrieved her coat from the Break Room and exited _Wonderland_, not looking back.

It was pitch black night outside. She would need to depart now if she wanted to meet Noah in time, Zoey realized. If he was even expecting her after today, that was.

She stared at her car, then at her apartment building, then back at the car. And she turned back around and went inside.

For the first time in a year, she was in no mood for meeting Noah.

* * *

The apartment was empty.

Finding Lila cocooned into a blanket in her room, watching her typical obnoxious sitcoms, had been Zoey's last remaining hope, but the instant she set foot inside the apartment, all-omitting darkness and silence greeting her, she felt the last stray happiness inside of her fading away. She harbored no special feelings for Lila — on the contrary, she hardly even knew more than her name, age and profession — but the mere thought of her gone missing in a town were her unpredictable vampire brother was on the loose made her want to cry.

And so she did exactly that.

Zoey never turned the lights on. She found the way to her room in the darkness, then crawled beneath her covers still in her work uniform. Her body shook and trembled uncontrollably as tears made their way down her cheeks, before long succumbing to the sweet siren call of slumber.

* * *

When Zoey woke up several hours later, awoken by the first rays of light upon her face, she took a quick shower —washing off the dried tears— changed into a casual jeans and t-shirt, and had a coffee. There were still no signs of Lila, which was bad on more than one level. The way she knew Mike, he'd meant business yesterday, and Lila's Saturday shift had begun half an hour ago. Wherever her roommate was, she was now officially jobless.

But no, Zoey was done worrying. She'd done enough of it yesterday to almost successfully drive herself insane. And life was depressing enough as it was.

Leaving a note for Lila on the kitchen table in case she'd come back when she was gone, Zoey exited the apartment and few seconds later entered her car, headed towards the national park.

She may have been frightened of Noah, but he was still the closest person she'd got, and she had had no right to stand him up yesterday. Against popular belief, vampires obtained feelings, too. Which was why she was on her way to see him now.

She just hoped he wouldn't be hunting when she arrived.

* * *

He wasn't.

"And here I was, thinking you'd abandoned me once and for all," she heard Noah's honey-like voice as she entered the thick line of trees that marked the beginning of the forest. The smirk was audible in his voice.

"Well, to be fair, for a moment, so was I." Zoey smiled.

"I'm just glad you're back," he said, jumping out of a tree. "I missed you."

"Be a little less... _intimidating_ next time, and it won't happen again," she replied. "And of course I came back. I promised, remember?"

"Of course."

There was comfortable silence for a moment.

"My roommate disappeared yesterday." Zoey gulped. "You haven't by any chance...fed within the city after we met yesterday?"

"Your lack of trust in me is astounding."

"I'm sorry if I offended you. I just-"

"No, I did not murder anyone yesterday. I fed just this morning, in case you want to know, but just the usual stupid teens that sneak into the park."

"Thank you." She sighed. "We could go to my apartment if you want. You want to go out more, don't you? At least this way it's a little safer for everyone but me. And I doubt Lila will be back too soon."

For a second or two there was a slightly knowing smile on Noah's lips.

"After you, then."

* * *

They arrived in Whitehorse, parking directly infront of the _Wonderland_ building, half an hour later. Noah was out of the car within a split second.

"No offense," he said, "But you should've just let me carry you. It would have been about a hundred times quicker, and a lot more comfortable, too."

"I couldn't just leave the car," Zoey replied. "Sorry."

Noah turned around, now facing Zoey's workplace and home. "This place needs a make-over," he commented, staring into the Wonderland windows. "Good god, how does this place survive?"

"It pays the bills," she said. "And it doesn't ask questions. Quite frankly, without it, I'd live on the street. Stop bullying it immediately or I'm not letting you in."

"Well, thank whatever higher power there is for Wonderland then."

Zoey smiled, opening the door. "Come on in."

"You _do_ know this entire having to invite a vampire in thing is bullshit, though, right?" A smirk appeared on Noah's lips. "Technically, no human could ever stop me from going anywhere."

"Duly noted."

They made their way up the staircase, Noah intruigedly taking in all possible details, until they finally reached the third floor.

"_Watson &amp; Allen_, eh?" The vampire read the sign on the light gray plastic door. "Doesn't that sound flawless."

"It sounds better than it really is," Zoey explained tiredly, placing her key in the lock and turning it around. "So please, don't expect too much."

The door opened, revealing a small, poorly lit hallway with yellow linoleum flooring. Four doors led away from it, and its walls were covered in posters of movies, alternative musicians and amateur sketches. The floor was littered with shoes and books, and Zoey suddenly felt very self-conscious about her home as she noticed Noah, whose last real home had been the Moore's three-story family mansion, staring it down in dismay.

"The posters were Lila's idea," she noted quietly, hoping it would make the immortal's upcoming comment less condescending.

She failed.

"Well...it's something," Noah sneered, the arrogant, malicious tone back to his voice. Zoey shivered.

"Let's go in, shall we?" She aimlessly kicked a pair of black leather boots into the corner to make room for her visitor. "My room's the one next to the Janis Joplin photograph, but let's go to the kitchen first, if that's okay. I need a drink."

* * *

"Hello."

She heard the voice before she saw its owner. It had a young, girlish, bell-like sound to it, breathtaking even taking the slight apathy within it into consideration, and the second she heard it, Zoey knew she was doomed, for their was no way on Earth that such a beautiful sound could come from a human.

She was right.

The girl was about thirteen in appearance, and apart from the dark crimson eyes, she was every way as angelic and beautiful as Zoey had imagined after hearing her voice. Her long blond hair was in a straight bun at the back of her head, showing off her delicate, doll-like head. She was pale, like all vampires, but it fit her features. The girl possessed rosy rosebud lips and doe-like eyes, and she would have looked just like a cute little girl if not for her long black cloak and golden 'V' pendant, which gave her an air of seriousness.

"How did you get into my apartment?" Zoey asked, uncertain wether to feel fascinated or horrified at her presence.

"You left the window open," she said, staring over her shoulder at the window that was now wide open. Zoey only now saw the three males standing behind her, equally as vampiric and dressed similarly to the girl.

"My name is Jane of the Volturi," the girl continued. "Which are yours?"

She deliberated her answer for a second before replying "Zoey Allen." Noah let out a defeated sounding "Noah Moore" from behind her.

"_Pleasure_," Jane smiled, sarcastic all of a sudden.

"Why are you here?" Noah demanded.

A particularly tall vampire answered from behind Jane, a smirk forming on his lips. "We have come to punish the both of you for breaking one of the Volturi's most valued laws."

"What?" Zoey laughed. "I'm sorry, you have to have us mixed up. I don't even know what you're talking abou-"

"Silence," Jane hissed. "What a poor job you've done," she said, turning towards Noah, "telling the girl of our world yet leaving out all of the important parts. Oh well, what does it matter. Your lives are forfeit either way."

"Why would you even think that she knows?" Noah asked. "I have done no wrong. This is ridiculous."

"Don't you dare take the Volturi for a fool, boy!" Jane snarled. "We've seen it with our own eyes. You were out in plain sight, you two, just yesterday, openly talking about your nutrition! This is an unacceptable situation, and we are here to set it right."

"Ca-... can we just talk about this?" Zoey intervened, her heartbeats having reached a dangerous new high. "We didn't do anything wro-"

"Why do you think your friend over there has red eyes?" Jane interrupted her.

"Be...because he's like you," Zoey answered, almost croaking out the words.

"And what are we like?"

She gulped. "Vampires," she whispered.

"There you go," Jane said, looking at Noah. "She obviously knows! To hell with your lies. Just out of curiosity though, were you even planning on turning her?"

Noah didn't answer.

"I thought so."

"What... what are you going to do with me?" Zoey's voice was trembling with fright.

A boy perhaps the age of Jane spoke up. "There are only two options," he explained. "Be changed or die. Our Masters will decide once you meet them, although," he looked down at her condescendingly, "I wouldn't get my hopes up."

A single tear rolled down Zoey's cheeks.

"Please," she cried, "there must be another option. I'll do anything-"

She was interrupted by Noah. "This is all very touching," he said, "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take my leave now."

And before Zoey could cry out, before the Volturi could even realize what was going on, Noah was already out of the window. Jane cried out in displeasure, running after Noah with the tall vampire and a messy haired male in tow. A malicious smile appeared on her face.

Within a second and a half, Zoey was left on her kitchen floor, staring into the blood red eyes of the boy that looked suspiciously similar to Jane. He said something to her, something soothing, but she didn't hear. She was numb.

She didn't care that they were going to kill her. She didn't care about the black mist appearing from the boy's palms. She didn't care who these vampires were and why they had rules. She didn't care that Noah had fled.

She cared that he hadn't taken her with him.

The strange mist touched her hands, and Zoey succumbed to darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Hello again! I know, this update is about two and a half months late, but hey, here it is! :) Sadly I kind of lost inspiration for a long period of time, which is why I didn't update, but about three days ago it just came flying back to me, so here it is.

Thank you so much to all the amazing people that reviewed, followed and faved this story eventhough I didn't update — you deserve a cookie. And an award.

Please remember to leave a review! It would be really appreciated.


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